Quotes from Dallas Willard

As I often point out to folks, today we are not only saved by grace, we are paralyzed by it. We will preach to you for an hour that you can do nothing to be saved, and then sing to you for forty-five minutes trying to get you to do something to be saved. That is confusing, to say the least.

This time of reflection should also include thanksgiving for all the ways the day went well.

The lamp that is aglow in the obedient life will shine. The city set on the hill cannot be hid. Obedience to Christ from the heart and by the Spirit is such a radical reality that those who live in it automatically realize the unity that can never be achieved by direct efforts at union.

May you experience grace—God acting in your life, in your thoughts, in your feelings, in your rest. May his face shine upon you. May his shining face lift up over you as you lie down, as you sleep, and give you the thoughts you need to have. The blessing of the Trinity rest upon you and everything you are and do. Let it be so. Amen.

God does not delight in having to always explain what his will is; he enjoys it when we understand

As you engage with others, ask Jesus to bless them. You can consciously will the peace, joy, and confidence that you are experiencing to pass from you, like "living waters," to those with whom you are interacting.

Our relationship with Jesus, which he argued ultimately allows us to establish a relationship with the kingdom of God. This relationship is one of discipleship in which we learn to live our lives as Jesus would through progressively embodying and manifesting a Christlike character, which is attained through establishing a discipling relationship to Jesus.

Sit in the companionship of God—the one who shows up and can be seen.

A thoughtless or uninformed theology grips and guides our life with just as great a force as does a thoughtful and informed one.

So we do not have the strength we should have, and Jesus' commandments become overwhelmingly burdensome to us. In fact, many Christians cannot even believe he actually intended for us to carry them out. So what is the result? His teachings are treated as a mere ideal, one that we may better ourselves by aiming for but know we are bound to fall glaringly short of.

The real Jesus, as is now commonly said, is "one who identified with and loves oppressed people and those who are different," calling us to do the same. These words now express the redemptive vision of the Christian left, just as "trusted Christ for forgiveness" or "prayed to receive Jesus" does for the right.

That is, his death was a revelation of the nature of basic reality. Without knowledge of it and its meaning, we are desperately ignorant of reality, and therefore all our thinking can only result in monstrous falsehoods.